


Roses and Comfort

by AriDesert



Series: Roses and Witchers [1]
Category: The Witcher (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Geralt is a Good Hugger okay, protective Geralt, slight whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22460758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriDesert/pseuds/AriDesert
Summary: This whole stop in this village was just so they could get Rose better equipment.Stupid bandits are Stupid.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Rose (original character)
Series: Roses and Witchers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1634581
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	Roses and Comfort

“You wouldn’t happen to be the White Wolf and his Pup would you?” A voice called out to them as Geralt and Rose made their way to the market. Geralt made a face and turned to answer whoever had called out to them. 

A boy stood there, staring up at Geralt. “Mum says that there’s a Wolf that’ll help us if we pay him and the pup with him right, is ‘at you?” 

A woman caught sight of the boy and tugged him away from the two of them. The boy protested, trying to convince her that the Wolf was right there! See, his hair’s white and there’s his Pup! Nonetheless, the woman led him away. 

“What so you think that was about?” Rose asked as she and Geralt turned back to the market. 

Geralt simply made a face and led Roach forward. Rose stood and looked back at the woman and boy for a minute before moving to catch up. They put the encounter to the back of their minds for the time being, they had other things to worry about. Like selling Rose’s wares for enough coin to get her a new sleeping roll. Rose had taken to making tools and pendants from the bones of Geralt’s hunts while she waited for him to complete jobs and in the evenings before they turned in for the night. 

The tools sold better than the pendants but by the end of the day they were still short all the coin they needed.

“Is it just me, or are prices really high in this village?” 

“It’s not just you,” a nervous looking man spoke up from the other side of Geralt. “Please sir, we have a job for you, but it can’t be discussed here. Follow me and my family will make you dinner while we talk.” 

Geralt considered the man for a moment before choosing his reply. “Give us a place for the night and we’re all ears.” 

The man hesitated, glancing between the two of them. After a quick moment he nodded and walked away, gesturing for them to follow. They went, ending up at the man’s house. They met the family, and they turned out to be the boy and woman from earlier. Plus a little girl. Rose awkwardly stood by until the woman, Lana, brought her to help make dinner and entertain the children with stories while the man, Rennard, showed Geralt the barn where they’d be for the night. 

Dinner was an odd affair Rose decided. The adults were clearly nervous about something, and the children had picked up on it, but they were excited and clamoring to hear any stories they could wrangle out of Geralt. After the meal was finished and the children were sent to bed, the four of them went to the barn to talk about the job Rennard had told Geralt about in the market. 

It turned out there was a group of bandits who had settled down in the woods not too far outside the village. They cut off access to the lake where the village got most of their food and wares.

“Claimed there was a toll now,” Rennard explained. “Said we had to pay them if we wanted to get to the lake.”

Lana twisted her hands in her lap, “Most of us didn’t want any trouble so we did. Gathered up the coin, but there were some folk who tried to drive the bandits away.”

Rose sighed. There was always someone who thought they could take the fight. Geralt raised an eyebrow in his “and how did that turn out?” sort of way. 

Rennard scowled, bitterness clear in his voice when he answered, “It got the toll raised is what that did. We don’t have enough to pay them anymore, and we don’t have any hunters good enough to bring in all the food we’d need for the winter.” 

“Please sir,” Lana looked up at Geralt, “we know you don’t work for free, and we can’t pay in coin, but we can trade supplies.” 

“Can you trade a sleeping roll and new boots for her?” Geralt asked.

“Yes sir. New saddle bags and some thread as well.”

Geralt held a hand out for Rennard to shake, “It’s a deal then. I’ll start in the morning.” 

Rennard and Lana gushed thanks and left Geralt and Rose to get some sleep. Rose spent a good few minutes thinking about what she’d make next and which pieces to use for them. Then Geralt extinguishes the light and they fall to sleep.

The next morning dawned grey and sullen. Rose groaned and curled herself into a tighter ball under her blanket when Geralt shakes her awake. She grumpily emerges when he threatens to dump a bucket of water on her to wake her up, but the glare she sent him only made him laugh. 

“Just think,” he says when she complains about the weather, “you could be waiting out in the woods.” 

Rose growled and rolled up her blanket to throw at him. He ducked out of the barn before she could though, warning Lana of Rose’s extreme dislike of waking up and went on his way. Rose dug around in her bags, pulling breakfast out of one bag, dried fruit and some bread, and bone pieces out of the other. She also got her grinding rocks and set herself up in an out of the way spot. That was how she spent the day, working on her pieces while she waited for Geralt to get back. 

It was a quiet day. The hours until midday passed without Rose ever noticing beyond the fact that the greyness had gone and the sun was slowly creeping up to her spot. The children came to get her at lunch, saying their mama had told them to make sure she ate and stretched her legs.

“Come to the market with us!” The little girl exclaimed, tugging Rose’s hand. Rose laughed and went with them, letting herself be pulled along by the excited little girl. They led her around, introducing her to friends and other grown ups, no one noticing the man who sneered and slipped away when the boy loudly announced that she was here with the White Wolf. 

When they got back to the house the man was waiting with a group of others. It didn’t take much to figure out that they were some of the bandits who’d heard that Geralt had been hired to deal with them. They grabbed Rose before she could think much further than that and dragged her away. They held a blade to her throat when she proved unwilling to simply be dragged and bound her hands. 

“Behave,  _ pup _ ,” the man snarled at her, “it would be a shame if we had to mark your pretty little face.” 

Rose spit at him and he whipped his hand across her cheek, knocking her to the ground. 

“Little witch,” one of the men hauling her around snapped. “It’s a shame we need you alive for the Witcher.” 

Rose laughed breathlessly, “Oh you- you think holding me hostage will do anything other than ensure your own painful end? Oh you poor fools.” 

Rose was struck again, leaving her gasping for breath but still grinning. The men all growled and moved as though to hit her some more, but the village man snapped at them to hurry up and bring her to the base before the Witcher finds it. The men grumbled but obeyed, one of them tossing Rose over his shoulder to move faster. 

They’d barely gotten to their base before Geralt did, only having enough time to deliver Rose to the leader and tell her who she was when the sounds of fighting started. Rose glared up at the leader, wondering what he would do now that he had no time to plan on how to use her as a bargaining chip. He growled and pulled out a knife, one that Rose recognized as one she had sold at the market the day before. 

He pulled up by her hair and placed the blade at her throat, walking her forward, stopping when he picked a place he deemed good enough for waiting for Geralt. Rose clenched her fists to stop them from shaking and bit her lip. A flurry of emotions made her heart pound for the few longest moments of her life. 

Fear. Her hands were bound and a blade was at her throat. 

Anger. That blade was of her own making, how dare it be used for something like this? 

Worry. She knew Geralt was a more capable fighter drunk and half asleep than any of these bandits probably were, but that was the tricky thing about getting attached to someone, you always worry about them. 

Trust. She absolutely believed that Geralt would get her out of this. He’d saved her before, she knew he’d do it again. 

Something flew into their line of sight and landed with a wet splat that made Rose flinch. Geralt followed close after it, stopping when he caught sight of Rose. The bandit leader held the blade closer, drawing a bit of blood. Rose bit down harder to stop herself from whimpering. 

“So you’re the famous White Wolf huh?” Geralt didn’t grace him with an answer, but one wasn’t really needed anyway. “Put your blades down witcher, let’s have a chat, man to man like.” 

Geralt glared at him, “Let her go first.” 

“Hmm, no I don’t think I will. I’m not stupid enough to think you wouldn’t kill me the minute she was safely out of the way, now put your blades down.” 

The one second Geralt hesitated was enough for the bandit to press the blade harder against Rose’s throat. This time Rose did let out a whimper, a tear falling down her cheek. Geralt threw his swords away with a growl and held his hands away from his body. 

The bandit laughed. “I never thought it could be so easy to tame a witcher! Now-” 

Geralt cast Axii, lunging forward to pull Rose towards him as she shoved away from the bandit. The Axii didn’t last very long, only a few seconds. The bandit recovered just in time to try and grab Rose’s hair again and get blown away by Aard. He looked up to see Geralt had picked up his steel sword and was advancing towards him.

“N-now hold on a minute witcher, I’m sure we can come to some kind of agreement! There’s plenty of coin here, you can take it and the wench and-” 

With one swing Geralt cut through the bandit’s neck, silencing him forever. Bending down, Geralt took the bone knife out of the bandit’s grip and wiped it off. 

Rose had sunk to her knees the moment the bandit had been knocked away from her, and now that it was over her tears began to fall in earnest. She didn’t really register that she was crying until Geralt knelt down in front of her, freeing her hands, and started wiping some of the tears away. Realizing she was crying only made her cry harder and she ducked her head. Hesitantly, Geralt put a hand on Rose’s back, rubbing gentle circles to help calm her down. Eventually Rose calmed down enough that they could go back to the village. Rose was fussed over by Lana, who sat her down with a mug of something warm and cleaned the cut on her neck. Thankfully it wasn’t very bad. 

Geralt went with Rennard to pick out the sleeping roll and boots for Rose, as well as some food that didn’t have to be hunted by the two of them. 

When he got back he found Rose in the barn, absentmindedly turning the knife over in her fingers. It wasn’t that she hadn’t known the possibility of her knives being used for something like this, it just, hadn’t ever occurred to her that they  _ would _ be.

“Rose? Do you want to stay again tonight or move on?” 

“Move on,” Rose answered in a small voice.

“Will you stop making knives?” Geralt asked, packing up their things into the new saddle bags and saddling Roach.

Rose was silent for a long moment. “No,” she finally answered, “they sell well and it’s not like anything would have turned out differently if I hadn’t made knives.” 

Geralt hummed his acknowledgement and plopped the new boots down in front of her, taking the knife. “Try those on.”

They were a good fit, and the soles looked to be made of tougher stuff than the last pair had been. Rose managed a small smile and stood up. Geralt offered the knife back, nodding when she pocketed it carefully. 

Geralt gathered Roach’s reigns and led the way out of the barn, pausing outside to lift Rose up onto Roach and swinging up behind her. Rose stiffened for a moment, she hadn’t been allowed up on Roach very often, relaxing when Geralt’s arms came around to hold the reigns and keep her steady. She waved goodbye to the children when she saw them in front of their house. 

The rest of the day passed in silence, both of them lost in their minds. Rose spent much of the ride twisting her hair and pulling at loose threads in her clothes. When Gerald noticed what she was doing, he placed a hand over hers, smoothing his thumb across her skin.

When the sun was low on the horizon and they’d found a place to make camp, Geralt pulled his hand away and dismounted. Rose helped unload Roach and set up, gathering fuel for a fire and setting up her stones. More out of force of habit than any actual intent to use them. 

Somehow Rose ended up leaning back against Geralt’s side, twisting the end of her braid. Geralt sighed, pulling Rose to his front so her back was to his chest. It startled Rose a bit, but he was so warm. And he started rocking them back and forth, offering his hands and letting Rose play with his fingers. Eventually Rose simply held his hands and leaned her head back against Geralt’s shoulder, eyelids drooping. 

“Sleep Rose. I’ll keep watch.” 

Rose hummed a token protest, she should at least get into her new sleeping roll, but Geralt’s solid warmth and gentle rocking held her in place. Minutes later she was asleep, safe and comfortable in Geralt’s arms.

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing came about because I wanted Geralt to hug someone and then it took me about 2000 words to get to the actual hugging part...
> 
> Also, I have a discord now if anyone's interested in chatting with me about stuff!  
> https://discord.gg/dYFzPH6


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